


Dessert First

by Evening_Bat



Category: Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-03
Updated: 2014-07-03
Packaged: 2018-02-07 08:53:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1892892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evening_Bat/pseuds/Evening_Bat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It all started with Jelly Babies.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dessert First

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Merfilly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/gifts).



> Four is one of my favourite Doctors, and Sarah Jane is my favourite Companion. Their episodes together remain some of my most-loved of the entire series. I’ve never quite had the courage to write for them before - thanks for giving me reason to try, Merfilly. I hope you like it!

It all started with Jelly Babies. 

This morning, Sarah Jane had found herself craving sweets and when she mentioned it, the Doctor had been quick to offer up his ever present sack. She’d taken a handful, but couldn’t help teasing him for the plainness of his tastes. All of time and space to choose from and the best sweets he had were Jelly Babies?

"Does that mean that humanity's done something right after all?" she asked, grinning around a mouthful.

She hadn’t meant it as a challenge - not _really_ \- but she wasn’t about to protest when the Doctor drew himself up to his full height and declared that if she wanted exotic treats, exotic treats she would have. The markets of Draxallos Minor, he assured her, had desserts the likes of which poor humanity had yet to imagine. After that, not even his absent warning to “avoid anything bright green and bubbly - it’s not precisely poisonous but it won’t agree with you,” was enough to dampen her enthusiasm.

The market was everything the Doctor had promised and more, so much tantalizing food on display that Sarah Jane barely knew where to start. Everything looked and smelled _fantastic_ , and the Doctor was no help. She’d thought to prod him for recommendations, but his expression had gone odd almost as soon as they walked past the pillars that marked the entrance to the marketplace. He’d barely looked at any of the goods on offer, apparently more interested in chatting with a pair of uniformed security guards. Sarah Jane had given him a few minutes of patience, and then ventured ahead without him.

It was only after she’d narrowed her choices to a handful of items that she wanted to try first that she realized she didn’t have the means to purchase anything. She hesitated in front of a table of what looked like jam tarts (though she’d never seen jam in quite that particular shade of blue before, nor such a startlingly violet pastry) and frowned in consternation. She’d noticed some vendors bartering for their wares, perhaps she might do the same until the Doctor caught up with her. It was as she was taking inventory of her pockets to see if she had anything that might seem valuable enough to trade that she heard the first screams.

It was all Sarah Jane could do to keep her feet and stop herself from getting swept up in the terrified rush. When she was finally able to get a look at what had sparked the panic, she couldn’t entirely blame the mob for fleeing en masse. 

The creatures tearing their way through the marketplace were as large as mid-size dogs and looked like a mad scientist’s nightmare of mice crossed with ants. They were black and bristly, all spiky legs and alarming pincer mouths, whip-thin tails lashing the air behind them. And they were _everywhere_. Fortunately for everyone, the - mice? ants? _bugs_ , Sarah Jane decided - were more interested in the food on display than in the stragglers scrambling to safety, or the vendors hiding in their booths.

Which wasn’t to say that their attention couldn’t be drawn by a particularly tempting target, she realized, stomach sinking as a young woman stumbled out from behind a heavily overrun counter. Her efforts to escape were hampered by the crying child in her arms, and the elderly man she was shepherding desperately ahead of her. A handful of the bugs broke away to follow, skittering close enough to snag the woman’s skirt with their clattering pincers. 

“Hey!” Sarah Jane shouted, seizing one of the trays from the table beside her and sending jam tarts cascading to the ground. She raced towards the struggling woman, gathering herself and swinging the tray with every ounce of strength in her arms. The nearest bug was knocked clean off its many feet, and Sarah Jane nearly cheered when it tumbled into two more and left all three in a chittering pile of flailing legs.

“Come on,” she urged the woman, taking up a protective stance beside her, tray raised and at the ready. One of the other people clustered around the booth had followed her lead, and they traded fierce grins as he paced watchfully along at the small family's far side.

“Things aren’t bad where we are,” he added. “Just a little bit further and you’ll be safe.”

Indeed, the bugs hadn’t spread throughout the entire market yet, lingering to snap up every bit of food left at the deserted stalls before swarming onward. Sarah Jane didn’t fancy their chances at running the gauntlet straight through the now-empty marketplace and so was grateful to see people beckoning them back to the booth where she’d found her weapon.

“Ah, sorry,” she apologized, handing the now-battered tray back to the vendor who’d cheerfully showed off his colourful wares.

“Couldn’t have put them to a better use myself,” he said, waving her words away.

To Sarah Jane’s surprise, she found hands reaching down to her as their group was ushered around the side of the stall. She glanced up and found a small group of people clustered atop the booth. 

Not the flimsy flea market booths she’d taken them for then, she thought as she steadied the older man as he was helped up to the roof.

“Best place to wait out a swarm,” her partner in bug-bashing explained as he helped her grab a pair of outstretched hands. “The food will keep them busy until security gets to work chasing them out.”

“I thought we were supposed to be past all this?” one of the woman huddled on the roof complained. “What happened to that flashy system the mayor bragged about all last summer?”

“Flashy system?” Sarah Jane asked, hoping that explained the Doctor’s absence. She took a hasty glance out over the street, still crawling with bugs but reassuringly empty of any injured victims. She trusted he could take care of himself, but the swarm _had_ come from the same direction from which she’d walked, where she’d left the Doctor nattering at a pair of confused guards about...resonance.

Time to go see if the Doctor already had this infestation under control, she decided as she stood up.

“How sturdy are these booths?” she asked.

“Solid enough,” her host assured her. “Why?”

“Because I need to get back down to the other end of the street, and I’d rather not travel down there with those things,” Sarah Jane replied, mentally measuring the gap between booths. She backed up a couple of steps and jumped across the distance before anyone could think to stop her.

The couple crouched on the neighbouring roof gaped at her abrupt arrival but reached out to steady her as she stumbled.

"Thank you! Don't mind me, just passing through!"

She hadn’t yet had the chance to try the famous desserts of Drexallos Minor, but the people were certainly sweet enough. They clearly didn’t know what to make of the madwoman hopping her way across their roofs, but there was always a ready hand to help her along the way.

Even before she reached the final booth, the noise was enough to warn her that things were still a bit hectic down at this end of things. Peering over the edge of the last roof as she caught her balance and her breath, Sarah Jane's eyes went straight to the Doctor, safe - oh thank God, _safe_ \- in a wide circle of empty space, a seething mass of bugs held at bay by the sonic screwdriver in his hand. There was a small cluster of security personnel sharing the bug-free bubble, slim clubs quick to lash out at any bug that put a leg too far into their space.

The Doctor spotted her almost immediately, his frown vanishing into a brilliant grin as she waved at him. “Sarah Jane! Good to see you!”

“Good to see you too,” she called back. “I don’t suppose you’re close to fixing whatever it is that’s gone wrong? Only there won’t be anything treats for us to try if we don’t get rid of these things soon.”

“Actually, now that you’re here, it should be a simple enough matter. Stay where you are for a moment.”

“All right,” she agreed, watching with some concern as he twisted something on the screwdriver. The bugs screeched indignantly and skittered backwards a few more feet. They parted around him as he shuffled forwards, his uniformed entourage in tow. 

“Right then,” he beamed up at her when he reached the side of the stall upon which she stood. “Climb on.”

“I’m sorry?” She blinked at him, the words failing to make sense even when he turned around to present his back to her. "I'm quite capable of walking myself."

“It's not your feet I need,” he said, twisting his head around to look over his shoulder. "It's your hands."

"Oh, well of course you do," she complained half-heartedly as she tried to picture how to manage what he wanted. For all that she trusted him not to drop her, climbing down onto someone’s shoulders was _awkward_. She’d rarely been more grateful for Time Lord reflexes or strength, clutching frantically at his steadying hand to keep herself from pitching straight off the roof onto the ground below. He barely gave her a chance to settle onto her new perch before he started moving back towards the gate to the market, his free hand wrapped securely around her shin. She caught his explanation in fragmented bursts, still afraid for her balance and trying not to yank the hair straight out of his head with her desperate grip.

The bugs were a longstanding local problem, apparently. The Doctor thought they’d come in on an offworld trader ship, but forwent further explanation when she tugged impatiently on his hair. The local government had recently installed a system to keep them away - something to do with sound waves, and oh _that’s_ why he’d been so distracted when they walked in! - but something had gone wrong. He thought it would be easy to fix, but in an attempt to keep the mechanism safe from damage the designers had installed it into the pillars at the entrances to the market...out of reach of any meddling hands.

“But you should be able to reach it - see that panel there?”

She did. “But there’s no way to open it!”

It was perfectly flat, the seam too small for her fingers. She pushed at it with no luck, finally hitting it in frustration, but it remained stubbornly shut. 

“Hang on a minute,” she said, rummaging hastily through her pockets for one of the pens she was rarely without. She ignored the ominous creak of the barrel as she jabbed the tip into the thin seam, yelping with triumph when the panel finally popped open. “You owe me a new pen!” she called down, dropping the broken bits of plastic before the ink could leak all over her hands.

“We’ll pop out to get you one right after breakfast,” the Doctor promised. “Now what do you see?”

“Exactly what you said,” she reported. A thick mess of wires snaking around an irregularly glowing crystal with a smoky crack running the length of it.

“All right, here’s the tricky part,” the Doctor said. “I’m going to give you the screwdriver. It’s on the right setting, just keep it pointed at the crystal until it’s fixed.”

Tricky part, indeed. Sarah Jane permitted herself one deep breath to ease her nerves.

"All right, hand it over,” she said, reaching a hand down and resolutely not looking at the mass of bugs surging at the edge of the circle the Doctor had been holding for them.

She raised it as soon as the handle slapped into her palm, keeping her eyes firmly on the crystal as the noise of the bugs redoubled, nearly drowning out the grunts of effort from the security guards as they fought to keep the bugs off of them. The Doctor stayed absolutely steady under her, his hands keeping a reassuringly firm grip on her knees.

At first, she didn't think it was working. The crystal continued to flicker and dim, despite the screwdriver humming in her hand. _Come on, come on!_

But finally the crystal’s light caught, steadied, and brightened, the dark line of the crack fading into a steady brilliance. “Yes! Almost there!”

The effect was immediate. Another chorus of screeches erupted from the bugs, punctuated by a burst of uncoordinated scurrying, and then they were streaming away from the marketplace and back out through the open gates. A ragged cheer went up from the onlookers, softening into the buzz of excited chatter as people began to make their way back out into the street.

“Well done, Sarah,” the Doctor said, patting her knee as she drooped in relief.

“That leaves us with just one problem then,” she said, shaking out her still-tingling hand.

“Oh?”

“How am I to get down?”

They had no end of volunteers to help her clamber off the Doctor’s shoulders, and were treated to a whirlwind of gratitude and showers of sweets of all kinds. Of course they had to try a bit of everything. By the time they finally tottered back to the TARDIS, Sarah Jane was so stuffed she was afraid she’d have to ask to be carried again; the market’s desserts had been as wonderful as the Doctor described and then some.

“About that pen shopping expedition…” she said as the Doctor opened the doors. “Did you have any place in particular in mind?”

“There are a few possibilities,” the Doctor replied, his mad grin a challenge of its own. “Particularly if you’d like an exotic writing set to accompany your unusual breakfast.”

“Might as well make it a proper set,” Sarah Jane told him, matching his smile with one of her own. “Do you suppose we’d get into more or less trouble in an indoor market?”

“Let’s go find out,” the Doctor said as he set the TARDIS in motion.

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Ernestine Ulmer: “Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first.”


End file.
